Irish Franchise Association Awards & Gala, 2024

The Irish Franchise Association Gala Evening and Awards is the single largest event for the franchising community in Ireland. The Awards recognise all that is great about franchising, and the people who make it a success.


Winners are identified through our established independent adjudication panel. The event provides all entrants and attendees with an excellent networking opportunity and to be recognised amongst their peers for excellence in franchising.


Entries are now closed for the 2024 awards,

finalists to be announced soon

Book Your Table For Our Awards Ceremony

Date: Friday 26th April 2024

Time: Reception from 7pm and approx. end time 11pm

Venue: Crowne Plaza Hotel Blanchardstown

Dress Code: Black Tie

  • Parking available onsite
  • Accommodation reservations at reduced rate for a limited time. Please ccontact us for more details.
BOOK YOUR TICKETS HERE

Supplier of the Year Award


The Supplier of the Year Award gives franchisors and franchisees an opportunity to nominate the suppliers who support them to operate effectively and provide quality products and services to their customers. All types of suppliers of both goods and services can be nominated including equipment suppliers, financial service suppliers, accounting, software, consumables, food ingredients and products etc.

NOMINATE YOUR SUPPLIER OF THE YEAR

Applications are now open for our 2024 awards as follows

Franchisor Awards

  • Food & Beverage Service Franchise of the Year

    This category is open to all franchises whose business is centred around serving food and beverages to consumers including dining, casual dining, take-away, drive-through and mobile formats. This category is not open to trade suppliers or retailers in the food and beverage space. 

  • Retail Franchise of the Year

    This award is reserved for retail franchises who are operating and performing in their chosen sector. It is open to all retail franchises who primarily sell goods to a consumer audience. They must have a retail premises accessible to the public and/or an online ecommerce platform with more than 10 products. This category is not open to service providers with retail premises who sell a small selection of retail goods in addition to their main services or to food and beverage entrants. 

  • Service Franchise of the Year (B2B and B2C)

    This award is reserved for service franchises who are operating and performing in their chosen sector. It is open to all retail franchises who primarily sell services, rather than goods, to both B2C and B2B audiences. This category is open to all those who primarily provide a service to either B2C or B2B and are based online, in an office or retail premises. It is not open to food and beverage entrants. 

  • Education Franchise of the Year

    This category recognises franchises dedicated to education, be it STEM, education for children or additional professional training for adults. The category is open to all franchises whose primary purpose is to provide educational content or experiences to all age groups. This can be in the form of courses, events or physical locations.

FRANCHISOR ENTRY FORM

Franchisee Awards

  • Franchisee of the Year – Retail

    The retail franchisee category was established to recognise the contribution of an individual franchisee providing retail products and experiences to customers directly. This category is specifically for franchisees who operate a single unit with FMCG or other products available. 


    This category excludes franchisees who provide services with a minority percentage of retail products available, and food and beverage.

  • Franchisee of Year – Food & Beverage

    This category is open to all franchisees whose business is centred around serving food and

    beverages to consumers including dining, casual dining, take-away, drive-through and

    mobile formats and to suppliers or retailers in the food and beverage space

  • Franchisee of the Year – Service

    The service franchisee category was established to recognise the contribution of an individual franchisee providing services to their customers. This category excludes franchisees who are retailers with a minority percentage of service support available, and food and beverage.

  • Franchisee of the Year- Multi-unit - (3+)  

    The new franchisee category was introduced to recognise multi-unit franchisees in any sector or of any type, retail or service.

FRANCHISEE ENTRY FORM

Special Recognition Awards

  • Best Emerging Franchise of the Year

    This category was established to recognise franchisors in the start-up phase, within the first two years of their franchise journey. Our judges want to see businesses and services that are working towards being structured as ethical business format franchises by implementing the key components of a best practice franchise system and who are performing across all areas of the business, including finance, operations and communications

  • Community Champion of the Year (Also open to franchisees)

    Every business is part of a local community and the mutual engagement between the people of the community and the business is at the core of successful towns and cities across Ireland. This award is to honour the team or individual who, in different ways, take the time and effort to support, integrate and promote the long-term health and prosperity of their community through acts of engagement, generosity and kindness.

  • Employee Star of the Year (Also open to franchisees)

    This is a special recognition award for an employee who has stood out this past year for their superior dedication, exceptional performance and team contribution. For example, this is a person, at any level within the company, who has made a difference or who has shown considerable professional growth and personal development in 2022/2023. The award is open to any employee of an operating franchise in Ireland, (either franchisors or franchisees).

  • Irish International Franchise of the Year

    Has your franchise expanded beyond the island of Ireland for the first time or is your

    expansion accelerating year on year? This award category is for all Irish franchisors

    operating at an international level and who are successfully operating in the UK, Europe and beyond. This category is open to all franchise concepts originating in Ireland and operating in at least 1 additional international market.

  • Leadership in Franchising Award (Also open to franchisees)

    Leadership is an essential ingredient in the continued success and expansion of Irish franchises at home and abroad. It makes a difference for every member of the team working in the franchise. Leadership is the team manager who supports their team, who seizes opportunities, it is the person who encourages and activates innovation. This award is to recognise and honour leadership in all its forms, which contributes to the success of franchising in Ireland. It is for the person who shows exemplary leadership skills through communication, commitment and clarity. 

  • Marketing Campaign of the Year

    Did your team conceive, plan and execute a game-changing campaign for your business in 2022/2023? This award is for a brand who developed and implemented a campaign to target a specific business objective and, through purpose marketing, has shown measurable success in meeting this objective.

  • Sustainability Champion of the Year

    Sustainability is fast becoming one of the top hot topics for business in 2023. Every business has a responsibility to consider their green footprint and to take action towards achieving greater sustainability practices within their business. This award is to celebrate the sustainability pioneers in the franchise community. Those who have taken action to make sustainability a measurable part of their everyday operations and values while also integrating it into their long-term business strategy. 

To help with your entry submission, we recommend that you copy the questions from your category, so you can prepare in advance before copying and pasting your responses into the live form.

We are proud to announce that our charity partner 2024 is Laura Lynn Foundation

LauraLynn's mission is to provide a Community of Care that delivers evidence-based, personalised services to children with palliative care needs, complex care needs and complex disabilities, while also providing family support services and a home to our residents where quality-of-life is paramount.